Fifth of UK business owners use just a pen and paper for business admin

Many UK small businesses are struggling to make accurate projections for the year ahead because they lack the resources necessary to monitor key numbers such as revenue and profit, according to research from Worldpay.

With a fifth of business owners admitting to still using a pen and paper for their business admin, a lack of knowledge of available tools and technologies is forcing many small businesses to persevere with time-consuming manual processes.

The survey revealed that 40% of businesses could not provide up-to-date monitoring or forecast of revenue and profit, while 48% of respondents were unable to identify their top10 customers or their ordering habits.

Over half (57%) of the small firms surveyed said they did not know their busiest trading day of the month, with 62% unable to identify their top three selling items despite the average business owner spending one day a week on admin.

Dave Hobday, UK managing director of Worldpay, commented:

“As we enter the New Year, business owners should make a resolution to spend a couple of hours and do a bit of research. You’ll quickly find that there are some very simple and cost efficient steps you can take to start recording and analysing valuable data about your business, so you can continue to prosper and grow in 2016.”